Carnival Calamity
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: A shooting happens at a local carnival and the Major Crimes team gets called out to investigate the crime. Meanwhile, Matthew isn't feeling good. Will Sharon and Andy be able to balance their work and home life. They have been doing pretty good so far...
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Here is the next story following "Valentine's Day". Hope you all enjoy it!Chapter 1

It was a cool, crisp evening in the city of Los Angeles. The city was bustling with its night life. Many Angelinos were out, enjoying the nice weather they had been having. There was a traveling carnival set up at the Midtown Mall parking lot. There were lots of rides, including a Ferris wheel, games, and even pony rides. The carnival always seemed to draw a lot of people to them. This particular carnival was owned by Tom Johnson, whose family had been in the carnival business since the 1950s. Everyone at the carnival tonight was having a lot of fun. There was a line to ride the Ferris wheel and the worker at the base of the ride stopped the wheel when it was time to let the people on and off.

Mark Wallace was situated over at the top of the Midtown Mall shopping building and overlooked the carnival that was in the parking lot. He had a perfect view of the Ferris wheel. He knelt down and opened the case that was with him. He pulled out a sniper rifle, complete with a silencer attached at the end of the barrel. He looked around the area to make sure no one saw him from his sniper's nest and quickly set up the gun, facing the Ferris wheel. He waited for the worker to stop the ride and aimed in at the people located at the top of the wheel. He pulled the trigger twice and then took a deep breath.

Nobody was alarmed as the ride continued to move. Mark aimed in again as the ride stopped and pulled the trigger twice. The ride moved again. Mark decided that killing four people should bring a message to the carnival company and placed the weapon back in its case. He then made his way to the roof access point and quickly made his way down to his car. He got in and drove away.

The carnival worker kept moving the Ferris wheel ride until he got to the car that had the two dead people slumped over. He stopped the ride and saw that the car above the current car also had two dead people inside. He screamed and alerted other people and workers at the carnival.

Provenza drove up to the Midtown Mall parking lot and got out of his car. By the time he got to the scene, there was crime tape up and patrol officers were holding the press back. Provenza flashed his badge and made his way over to the dead bodies. "Flynn, what do we have here?" Provenza said to Andy as he came up to meet him. "Well, we have a total of four victims, not related to each other, riding a Ferris wheel and then getting shot dead" Andy said to Provenza as he walked with him to meet up with Kendall.

"Kendall?" Provenza said to him. "Lieutenant, looks like they all died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Dr. Morales can tell you the caliber of the gun, but if I had to take a guess, I would say .556 judging by the size of the entry wound" Kendall said to Provenza as he stood up from the bodies. Provenza turned around to face Andy. "Do we have any IDs on the victims?" Provenza asked. "Yes, I sent Amy and Mike to notify the families" Andy said as they made their way over to the Ferris wheel. Both Andy and Provenza looked up at the ride. "You come with someone to the carnival to enjoy yourself and have fun" Andy said to Provenza as he glanced at him. "And you end up dead" Provenza said to Andy.

Provenza and Andy then made their way over to Julio who was looking at possible locations where the shooter might have been. "Sir, the bullets had to come from somewhere over here, in this direction, in order for them to hit their target" Julio said to Provenza as he pointed at the main building of the shopping mall. "And, you need the right height and distance to get your shots off" Andy said to them. "Did anyone search the roofs?" Provenza said as he turned around to face Julio and Andy.

Andy, Julio, and some patrol officers got access to the roof overlooking the parking lot and the carnival and they searched the roof. Both Andy and Julio had their flashlights out and their weapons drawn. The patrol officers followed them as they cleared the roof. Andy made his way over to where they thought the shooter had set up. He looked over the area with his flashlight and saw possible shoe prints on the gravel part of the roof, standing in the location where they suspected the shooter was. "Get SID up here, this may be the shoe prints of our shooter" Andy yelled out to one of the patrol officers. Andy then looked out over the carnival. 'The shooter could have shot anyone from here' he thought to himself.

"Lieutenant, I think I found something down here" Julio said as he knelt down next to the ledge from where Andy was standing. Julio picked up a rubber end cap and held it up for Andy to see. "It could be the rubber end of a tripod, for the rifle, sir" Julio said to Andy. Andy looked behind him as Provenza made his way up to the roof, along with SID and Buzz. "Buzz, I want you to film everything up here" Provenza told him as they walked closer to Andy and Julio. "So, what did we find over here?" Provenza asked Andy. "Well, for starters it looks like there is a shoe print from our shooter here" Andy said to him as he pointed at the area. SID moved in to get a good casting of the print. "And, we may have found the end cap to a tripod that could have been used in the shooting" Andy added and Julio showed Provenza what he had discovered.

"Ye gods" Provenza said to them as he pulled out his phone and dialed Sharon's number. "Uh, if you're calling Sharon, ask her how Matthew is feeling for me, will you?" Andy asked Provenza. Provenza just gave him a look. "Ask her yourself, Flynn" he started to say to him as Sharon answered her phone. "Yes Lieutenant?" Sharon said. "Oh, uh sorry to bother you Captain but it looks like we have a possible sniper on the loose" Provenza said to her.

"Is something wrong with Matthew, sir?" Julio asked Andy as they stood there waiting for Provenza to get off the phone. "Uh, he's got a stomach bug, poor thing. He was throwing up when we got called out to this mess" Andy told Julio. Provenza walked back over to them. "The Captain is on her way down to the morgue. I told her we would meet her there" Provenza said. Andy nodded and then pulled out his phone as it alerted him to a text message. 'Matthew stopped throwing up about 20 minutes ago. Rusty is going to watch him. I'll meet you at the morgue' Sharon's message said to him. 'Okay, talk more when I see you. Drive carefully' he texted back to her and then put his phone away. He looked up at both Provenza and Julio. "What?" he said to them. "You've got it bad, sir. I mean we knew that from the beginning when the Captain used to hang out and follow us around" Julio said to him. "We just thought you would get over it once you married her" Provenza said to Andy as Andy stood there with his mouth open slightly.

Andy shook his head at them and then headed down the building to the street level. Provenza, Julio, and Buzz followed him. "I was just concerned about our kid, he wasn't feeling good when he came home from school today and he threw up before I left for the crime scene, okay?" Andy said, defensively to Provenza. "Hey, relax Flynn. Now come on, let's go to the morgue. I don't want the Captain waiting for us" Provenza stated and then headed towards his car. Andy watched him walk away and then headed to his car. He got in and drove away towards the morgue.

As Andy was just pulling into the parking garage, he saw Sharon step out of her vehicle. She waited for him next to her car. Andy parked his car and got out to meet her. "Hey" he said to her as he walked over to join her at her car. "Hey" Sharon said, looking exhausted. "How's Matthew?" he asked her as they walked to the elevators, Provenza joining them. "He's okay, no fever so that's good. When I left he was trying to eat some crackers, so hopefully they stay down" Sharon said to Andy as all three of them stepped into the elevator. "Rusty's watching him, although he was pretty grossed out, but he promised to give me an update while we are here" Sharon said to them.

They entered the morgue and Dr. Morales was inside the examining room. All three of them gowned up and waited for Dr. Morales to be ready. The door opened and Dr. Morales stepped through. "Ah, good, you're all here" Dr. Morales said to them and then walked back inside the room. Sharon, Andy, and Provenza followed him in. As they walked in, they saw four bodies lying on the exam tables. "Each one of your victims dies from a single gunshot wound" Dr. Morales started to say. "What size round are we talking about?" Andy asked the doctor. "Uh, .556 Lieutenant. Here, I pulled this one out already" Dr. Morales said as he took the bullet from the tray and handed it to Andy. "We didn't find any casings at the scene" Andy said. "Which means our shooter took them with him as he left" Sharon said to them. "Thank you Doctor" Sharon said as she started to exit the room. "You're welcome" Dr. Morales said as Andy and Provenza left to follow Sharon.

"Gentlemen, I really don't want to inform Chief Howard that we have a sniper on the loose in LA" Sharon said to them as Andy and Provenza glanced at each other. "What else do we have?" Sharon asked them. "Well, SID made a casting of a shoe print that may or may not belong to the shooter" Andy said to her as they made their way back towards the elevators. "We also found an end cap to a tripod of some sort, maybe the shooter used that to steady the gun" Andy concluded as they stepped in the elevator. "I know, not much to go on, Captain" Provenza said to Sharon. "That's an understatement, Lieutenant" Sharon said as the doors closed.

Sharon looked down at the floor as Andy grabbed her hand. Provenza saw this and rolled his eyes. Sharon checked her phone and saw Rusty had left her a text message. 'He's sleeping now, crackers helped, hasn't thrown up since you left' the message said. Sharon glanced at the time on her phone. Rusty had sent it about twenty minutes ago and it was now after midnight. She placed her phone back in her pocket. "What did Rusty say?" Andy asked her. "Matthew's sleeping now. The crackers I gave him before I left seemed to have helped him" Sharon said as she looked over at Andy. "Good" Andy said, giving Sharon a slight smile as the elevator doors opened to the ninth floor.

They made their way towards the Murder Room and as they entered, Sharon saw Julio and Buzz putting up pictures on the Murder Board. Sharon walked to her office and placed her bag inside by her desk. She then joined everyone by the Murder Board, looking over the pictures that were taken at the scene. "Do we have a setup of the carnival and the buildings of the mall that are around it?" Sharon asked Buzz. "Uh, yes ma'am. Judging by where all the buildings were located in these pictures, I can draw a makeshift diagram for you" Buzz said to Sharon. "Thank you Buzz" Sharon said to him and then she walked over to join Andy who was sitting at his desk.

Amy and Mike walked back in to the Murder Room after making the notifications. "Amy, Mike, anything stand out with the families when you made the notifications?" Sharon asked the two as they sat down at their desks. "No Captain, it looks like the victims were at the wrong place, at the wrong time" Amy said to Sharon. Sharon nodded and then turned her attention back to the board. "Any connection between the victims?" Sharon asked. "Hector Alonzo and Julia Mayweather were boyfriend/girlfriend for ten years, both in their twenties. According to Julia's parents, they met at college, USC. Julia worked for an insurance company and Hector was attending graduate school" Mike said to Sharon.

"What about the other victims? Were they a couple as well?" Sharon asked Mike but Amy answered that question. "Yes, Captain. Lucas Kaminski and his girlfriend Joanna Sanchez had been seeing each other for five years, according to Lucas's brother. Both parents died, so his brother was Lucas's next of kin" Amy said and Sharon nodded. "According to his brother, Lucas met Joanna at work" Amy continued. "Ah, another work romance" Provenza stated and everyone looked at him. Andy gave him a glare and so did Sharon before turning her attention back to Amy. "They worked at the Omni Hotel in downtown LA. Lucas worked as the morning desk manager and Joanna worked in the reservations department" Amy stated and then placed her notes back on her desk.

"Okay, so we have four people, both couples with no ties to the other couple who were killed by a sniper on the roof of the mall. Were they the intended targets or is there something else to this murder?" Sharon said to the team as she looked around the room. "Captain, I would like to take a look at the crime scene in the morning, maybe get some trajectories from the roof to the Ferris wheel" Mike said to Sharon before she retreated to her office. "Go ahead and do that Mike" Sharon said as she turned around, but stopped short of entering her office. She glanced at her watch again. It was now nearing 2 in the morning. She turned around and faced her team. "But first, go home, get some sleep everybody and we'll start fresh in the morning" Sharon said to her team and then stepped in to her office.

Andy followed her in to her office and looked back at everyone who was leaving. "I'll drive us home, we can leave your car here" Andy said to Sharon as she gathered her things. Sharon shook her head in disagreement. "I don't think Matthew will be able to go to school tomorrow, so one of us is going to have to stay with him" Sharon said to Andy. "That's okay. I can stay home with him" Andy volunteered. "I need you on this case though" Sharon said to him. "Sharon, our kid is sick. I can stay home with him and skype you and the rest of the team, like I did when I had my blood clot" Andy said to her as he shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, I think the team needs their Captain here with them" Andy added as he grabbed Sharon's hand.

They walked out of her office and headed in to the hallway. "So was that you politely telling me that you can drive yourself home?" Andy said to Sharon and she chuckled. "I can drive myself home, I'm awake" she said to him as they stepped on the elevator. Andy pulled her in for a kiss as soon as the doors closed. They walked out to their cars, Andy making sure that Sharon was all set in her car before heading to his. "I'll see you at home" Sharon called out to him through the window. Andy got in his car and then he followed her out of the parking garage to their house.

They both arrived home and Sharon pulled into the driveway behind Andy's car. They walked into the house and were greeted by Moxie. Sharon made her way further inside to the family room where Rusty was sleeping sitting up on the chair. Matthew was asleep on the couch, a bucket below him on the ground in case he had to throw up again. Sharon was glad to see the bucket empty and then made her way to wake Rusty up. "Rusty" she said rubbing his shoulder. Rusty woke up and looked over at Sharon. "Oh good, you're home" Rusty said as he looked over at Matthew, who was still sleeping. Rusty stood up from the chair he fell asleep on. "If you want, I don't have any classes tomorrow, I can stay with Matthew if you're not sending him to school" Rusty said to Sharon as she walked with him back to the kitchen. "Hmm, Andy was going to stay home with him. You don't mind staying home with a sick child?" Sharon said to Rusty.

Rusty shrugged his shoulders. "We're a family and we help each other, right?" Rusty said to Sharon. Before Sharon could answer, Andy came back inside the house with Moxie. "What's going on?" Andy said to the two of them. "Rusty said that he could stay with Matthew tomorrow because he doesn't have classes" Sharon said to Andy. "Are you sure you want to take care of a sick kid. I mean I heard you were pretty grossed out before" Andy said to Rusty. "I was but it's fine if he's not throwing up" Rusty said to Andy. "Oh, I see" Sharon said to Rusty. "No, no, Mom. You guys just caught a huge case and you probably need everyone in on the investigation" Rusty said to Sharon. Sharon gave a laugh. "It's okay Rusty" she said to him. "If you want to help out, which we both appreciate, go get some sleep and be back here around 7am sharp" Sharon said to Rusty as she placed her arm on his shoulder and walked him to the door. "Got it" Rusty said as he left.

Sharon then walked back to where Andy was in the family room. "I hate to wake him up" Andy whispered to Sharon as they watched Matthew sleeping. Sharon moved her hand to feel Matthew's forehead. "Still cool" she said to Andy. Sharon bent down to rub Matthew's back gently. "Matthew, sweetie" Sharon said his name, lovingly. Matthew stirred and woke up. "Is it time for school?" Matthew said in a groggy voice as he opened his eyes. "No sweetie, but I do need you to wake up so you can go sleep in your bed" Sharon said to him as she helped him sit up. "How are you feeling?" Andy asked him as Matthew stood up. "Better" Matthew muttered as Andy walked with him to the stairs and they went up to his room.

Sharon tucked Matthew in his bed as Andy watched them both from the door frame. "Good night Matthew" Sharon said to him and then turned around to leave his room. Andy moved out of her way. "Good night buddy" Andy said to him and then closed the door. Sharon and Andy then walked over to their bedroom where Sharon sat down on the edge of their bed. Andy walked up to her and started massaging her shoulders. They were tense as he tried to work the kinks out. "What's the connection with this shooting?" Sharon said as Andy kept massaging her shoulders. "Maybe the shooter doesn't like carnivals, I don't know Sharon" Andy said to her as he felt her relaxing. She pouted when he stopped massaging. "Come on, let's go to bed, we have to be up in four hours" Andy said to her as he made his way to their closet to put his firearm away. Sharon joined him there as she did the same. She then made her way to the bathroom to change into her pajamas. Andy threw on his pajama pants and climbed into bed, waiting for Sharon to join him. Once she did, they both fell asleep, knowing the case they had in front of them was going to take a lot of energy to solve.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 2

Sharon woke up to someone poking her arm. She opened her eyes and saw Matthew staring back at her. "What's the matter, sweetie?" she said to him as she woke up. "I threw up again" Matthew said to her. "It's okay" Sharon said to him as she sat up. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was nearly 4 in the morning. "Where'd you throw up?" Sharon said as she started to get out of bed. "In the bathroom" Matthew said, holding her hand as she walked back with him to his room. "Do you feel better now?" Sharon asked him as he sat back on his bed and she checked his forehead with her hand. He was still cool to her touch. Matthew nodded and then pulled the covers back over him.

Andy rolled over and moved his hand to where Sharon was supposed to be sleeping. His hand met the sheet and he opened his eyes to see Sharon was no longer in bed. He rolled back on his back, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he glanced over at the clock. He groaned when he saw the time. He slowly got up and grabbed his shirt, venturing out to see where Sharon had gone to. He saw the light was on in Matthew's bathroom so he made his way over there and saw the towel on the floor by the toilet. 'Matthew must have gotten sick again' he thought to himself as he cleaned up the area. He grabbed the Clorox bleach from underneath the sink cabinet and poured some in the toilet, trying to disinfect the area.

Sharon came out of Matthew's bedroom and saw Andy in Matthew's bathroom down the hall. She walked over to him. "What are you doing?" she said quietly to him as to not startle him. "Just cleaning up the area. I take it Matthew got sick again?" Andy said as he put the bleach back underneath the sink. "Yeah, but he still doesn't have a fever" she said as she stood by the doorway. "I was going to go downstairs to get the thermometer just to get a reading on him when I saw you in here" Sharon said to him as she helped him clean up the towels. They placed them in a plastic bag and Andy brought them to the washer downstairs. Sharon went to the cabinet in the kitchen that held all of the medicine and grabbed the thermometer. They both washed their hands before they headed back upstairs.

Sharon placed the thermometer in Matthew's ear and got a reading without having to wake him back up. "97.6" she said to Andy. "No fever, that's good" Andy said to her as they quietly left Matthew's room and headed over to their room. "I'm going jump in the shower" Andy said to Sharon as he headed for the bathroom. "Okay" she said to him, sighing as she went back to bed. She felt exhausted herself and hoped that she wasn't getting sick like Matthew, that's the last thing she needed with this new case on their hands.

Andy came out of the bathroom and saw Sharon sleeping in bed already. He climbed back into bed and Sharon opened her eyes. She snuggled in next to Andy. "We don't have any suspects on this case" Sharon said to Andy as she caressed his bare chest. "Yet" Andy said. "Hmm?" Sharon said to him. "We don't have any suspects yet" Andy said. Sharon signed. "We will catch this person who did this Sharon" Andy reassured her. "Hmm, I'm also worried about Matthew" Sharon said. Andy held her closer to him. "He's going to be fine. He caught the flu from school, it will pass" Andy said to her. She settled her head back on his shoulder and the two of them slept for the remainder of the night till their alarm woke them up.

Andy leaned over Sharon to turn the annoying alarm off. "Is it morning already?" Sharon said in a sleepy voice. "I'm afraid it is, sweetheart" Andy said as he kissed her. "Morning" she said to him after they broke apart. "Morning" he answered her. He got up to move out of bed. "Why don't you get yourself ready, and I'll go check on Matthew" Andy said to Sharon as he put his robe on. "Take his temperature again" Sharon insisted as she handed him the ear thermometer. Andy smiled to her as he left the room and headed over to Matthew's room.

Sharon got up and out of bed and made her way to the closet where she gathered her clothes for the day. She then made her way to the bathroom where she turned on the water to take a shower. The hot shower felt good against the achy muscle of Sharon's shoulders and she was able to relax. After she was done in the shower, Sharon dried herself off and then started to get ready for the day.

Andy opened Matthew's door and stepped inside, seeing Matthew and Moxie both sleeping on the bed. Matthew shoved all of his covers off. Andy walked over to him and felt his forehead. It felt warm to him so he placed the thermometer in Matthew's ear and it took his temperature, which was higher at 100.1 degrees. Andy went downstairs to get Children's Tylenol liquid and a glass of water. He then went back upstairs and in to Matthew's room again. Andy woke Matthew up. "Hey, buddy" Andy said to him as he patted him on his shoulder. Matthew woke up. "Is it time for school now?" Matthew said in a groggy voice. "No buddy, you're not going to school today" Andy said and Matthew grabbed a hold of his pillow again and snuggled into it. "Before you go back to sleep, I need you to take this" Andy said to Matthew as he poured the liquid into a small measuring cap that came with it. "How does your stomach feel?" Andy asked him. "It feels okay" Matthew said to him. "Okay, can you take this because you have a fever" Andy said to him, handed him the liquid in the small cap. Matthew took it from Andy and drank it. Andy then handed him the glass of water and he took a couple of sips. "Alright, good job" Andy said to him.

"Do you want any blankets on you?" Andy asked as he pulled up the blankets off of the floor. Matthew shook his head and then snuggled with his teddy bear. "How about I just give you a thin blanket, in case" Andy said to Matthew and then placed the blanket over him, tucking him back in bed. "I'm going to check in on you in a couple of minutes, okay?" Andy said to him and then walked out of his room, closing the door behind him. He then made his way back to their room.

Sharon was out of the shower getting dressed in the bathroom when Andy stepped in to update her on Matthew. "I took his temperature as he felt warm to me, and it was 100.1" Andy said to Sharon. "Oh no, did you give him" Sharon said but before she could finish her sentence, Andy finished it for her. "Children's Tylenol, yes I did" Andy said to her. "How much did you give him?" Sharon asked. "What it said on the bottle, 12.5 milliliters, I filled it up between the lines" Andy said to her. She stepped up to him. "Thank you" Sharon said to him. "The Tylenol should help reduce his fever. Did you ask him how his stomach felt this morning?" Sharon asked him. "Yes, he said his stomach felt fine" Andy said to her and then walked over to their closet to find a suit to wear. Sharon then finished getting dressed.

Forty minutes later, they were both ready to head downstairs and wait for Rusty to come in. "I just want to check on him" Sharon said to Andy as they passed his door. "Okay" Andy said as he stood in the hallway. Sharon opened Matthew's door and went inside, followed by Andy. She walked over to Matthew sleeping and leaned down to feel his forehead. He was still warm and she turned to Andy. "Is that how warm he was?" she whispered to him. Andy felt his forehead. "No, he was hotter when I gave him the Tylenol" Andy whispered to her. "Okay" she said. They watched Matthew for a couple of seconds before retreating downstairs, Moxie following them.

Andy took Moxie outside in the backyard and ran into Rusty coming up the back way. "Morning" Rusty said to Andy. "Morning Rusty" Andy said to him. "Matthew has a little fever this morning, your Mom will fill you in on the details" Andy said as Rusty nodded and then continued walking into the house. Rusty made his way in to the kitchen and saw Sharon standing by the sink. "Morning Mom" he said to her. "Oh, good morning Rusty" Sharon said to him. "Matthew is still sleeping upstairs. About an hour ago, Andy checked in on him and he had a fever, so he gave him the Children's Tylenol. We just felt his forehead and he's still warm, but I was going to check his temperature again in about fifteen minutes" Sharon said to Rusty as she grabbed two bowls and the cereal box.

Andy then came back in and joined Sharon and Rusty at the kitchen table. "So, Rusty, I've been meaning to ask you this but we've been a little busy with work and all" Sharon said to Rusty. "What is it Mom?" Rusty said. "When do you start your internship with DDA Hobbs?" she asked him. "Oh, uh next week" Rusty said to her. "Are you excited about that?" Andy asked him. "Um, a little bit" Rusty answered.

Once they were finished with breakfast, Sharon took Rusty upstairs to check on Matthew. She sat on the edge of his bed and gently woke him up. "Mommy" he said to her, still sleeping. "Come on sweetie, you need to wake up for me right now" Sharon said to Matthew, just above a whisper. Matthew rolled over on his back and opened his eyes. Sharon rubbed his stomach. "How are you feeling this morning?" Sharon asked him. "Tired, my stomach doesn't hurt me anymore" Matthew said to her. "Okay, good" Sharon said as she took the ear thermometer and placed it in his ear to get a reading. "99.8" she said. "Rusty is going to watch you today while Daddy and I go to work" Sharon said to Matthew. "Okay, I'm not going to school?" Matthew asked. "No you're not, just for today. If you feel better then you can go back tomorrow, okay?" Sharon said to Matthew and he nodded his head. "Do you want to stay up here or come downstairs to the couch?" Sharon asked. "Downstairs" Matthew said as he started to get up. He grabbed his blanket and teddy bear. Sharon grabbed his pillow and they headed back downstairs.

Once they were downstairs, Sharon called the school's office and told them that Matthew was sick and wouldn't be at school today. After Matthew was all set on the couch and Sharon explained to Rusty what to do, Sharon and Andy left for work. Sharon looked out the window as Andy drove them to the office. "Hey" he grabbed her hand. "Matthew is going to be fine, Rusty can take care of him" he said to her as they stopped at the stop light. "I know but he's never been sick before with us and I'm his mother so I worry about him" Sharon said as she smiled to him. "I know" he said as he continued driving to work. They arrived at the PAB and parked the car. Both getting out and walked over to the elevators. "I'm sure Rusty will give you plenty of updates throughout the day today" Andy said to her as they stepped in to the elevator.

Andy and Sharon walked into the Murder Room and only Provenza was there, sitting at his desk. "Good morning, Lieutenant" Sharon said as they walked in and she went to her office. "Morning Captain" Provenza said as he stood up and followed Sharon to her office. Andy joined them as well and they had a seat in front of her desk. "We need to figure out the identity of this shooter" Sharon said to the two of them. "SID gave us the report on the shoe casting they did, size 11 shoe" Provenza said to her as he handed the report to Sharon. Sharon read the report. "Do we have any surveillance footage from the scene?" Sharon asked them. "Buzz was working on that. I will ask him when he gets here" Provenza said to her. Andy turned around in his seat and saw that Buzz had just walked inside the office. "Buzz just got here" Andy said to them. Sharon looked up to see Buzz walking in and motioned for him to come in to her office.

"Yes, Captain?" Buzz said as he entered Sharon's office. "Buzz, did we get any surveillance footage from any of the buildings at the mall last night?" Sharon asked him. "Uh, yes we did. I was going to start working on those this morning" Buzz said to her. "Good, thank you Buzz" Sharon said. "No problem, Captain" Buzz said to her as he looked at the Lieutenants and then exited her office. "Andy, please go with Mike back to the crime scene so he can take his measurements, maybe we can get a better layout of what exactly happened last night" Sharon said to Andy. "Sure" Andy said as he stood up and saw that Mike just entered the office.

Andy walked out of Sharon's office and over to Mike's desk and the two of them left the office. Sharon sat back in her chair and looked over the report. "Something wrong, Captain?" Provenza asked her. "Matthew has the stomach flu, he stayed home from school today and Rusty is watching him for us" Sharon said to him. "Hmm, he's a kid, he'll bounce back in no time" Provenza said to her and she peered over her glasses glancing at him. "In the meantime, I want us to look into the traveling carnival, find out about its business ventures, who owns the company, have they had any problems with employees, anything we can find" Sharon said to Provenza. "Yes Captain" Provenza said as he stood up from his chair and walked out of her office.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 3

Andy was standing holding the tape measure while Mike was on the other side. They were currently measuring the distance between the building and where the Ferris wheel was standing. "What measure do you have, Mike?" Andy called out to him. "48 and a half feet" Mike said as he gestured with his hand for Andy to let go of the tape. Mike reeled it back in as Andy walked over to meet him. He turned around and looked up at the building. "So what kind of rifle did this shooter have, to get accurate shots like last night?" Andy asked Mike. "Not only what rifle, but I'm thinking he had some sort of scope on it and also a possible silencer" Mike said to Andy. Andy gave him a questionable look. "Think about it, usually when a rifle is shot, you'll hear the sound of it going off, it would echo. Now, I know it was probably loud at the carnival last night, but no one heard any gun shots going off?" Mike explained. Andy nodded as he looked back at the Ferris wheel.

Back in the Murder Room, Julio and Amy were looking into the background of the carnival. This carnival traveled a lot throughout California, particularly southern California. They were based out of Irvine, California and Provenza was currently on the phone speaking with the general manager of the company. "Thank you" Provenza said as he hung up the phone. "Captain, the general manager, uh a Tom Johnson, is going to fax us over a list of its employees and ones that were fired more recently. Perhaps it's a disgruntled employee?" Provenza said to Sharon as she walked out of her office, towards his desk. "I informed the general manager, who is currently in Irvine, to keep himself available if we had any further questions" Provenza added. "Good Lieutenant" Sharon said as her phone alerted her to a text message. It was from Andy. 'We are looking for a rifle with a scope and silencer' the message said. Sharon thought for a moment before turning her attention to Amy.

"Amy, I need you to look up recent gun sales, particularly rifles, with a scope and silencer" Sharon said to her. "Sure Captain" Amy said and then started to run a search on her computer. Sharon then turned around and walked over to where Buzz was sitting at his computer. "Any footage we can use?" Sharon asked him. "I'm not sure Captain" Buzz said as he turned his computer monitor to face Sharon. "If you look at this video, you see someone walking away from the building, carrying what looks to be a case, but then they disappear" Buzz said to Sharon. Sharon watched the video, arms folded across her chest. "I'm trying to enhance the video to see if we can get a clear picture of their face" Buzz said to her. "Okay, let me know if you can" Sharon said and then walked back to her office.

Sharon's phone alerted to another text message. This time it was from Rusty. 'Matthew's hungry, what should I give him?' it said. She replied back to him. 'Make some plain toast for him and also give him some ginger ale to drink, thank you' Sharon wrote. Sharon noted the time, 9:15am, as she sat back down at her desk.

Andy and Mike returned to the Murder Room and Mike placed his measurements up on the Murder Board. Andy stepped inside Sharon's office. "Have you heard from Rusty yet?" he asked her. "Yes, about an hour ago, Matthew was hungry so I told him to give him some plain toast and ginger ale" Sharon said to him. "Good, that's good he's feeling hungry" Andy said to her. "Captain?" Buzz came up to Sharon's office door which made Andy turn around. "Sorry to interrupt but I think I may have found some clearer footage" Buzz said to Sharon. Sharon nodded and stood up from her desk, making her way with Andy towards Buzz's desk. "It may be better if we watch it on full screen" Buzz suggested to Sharon. "Sure" Sharon said as Buzz started to head towards the RACR room.

Sharon turned around to face everybody else. "Let's meet in the RACR room in five minutes, I want us all to see the footage Buzz found from the crime scene" she said to them. Provenza, Amy, and Julio stood up and headed over to the room. Sharon and Andy were already seated at the table. Mike was helping Buzz set things up. "Okay, we're ready Captain" Mike said to her. Buzz hit the play button and the video started playing before them. "Okay, we see this person on the roof of the building, walks over to the side that the Ferris wheel is on. Then if we look at this camera over here" Buzz said as he split the screen to show the new footage "we get a better angle and can actually see the shots being fired, you see the flashes" Buzz continued.

The team watched the screen and saw four flashes coming from the roof of the building. "The cameras pick up the person walking away from the scene, five minutes later, behind the building" Buzz said. "It took him five minutes to leave the scene, that's an eternity in a shooting, why so long?" Sharon said. "Probably had to disassemble his rifle, scope and silencer placing it in his case he's carrying" Julio said. "Plus taking down the tripod, that takes time as well, can't make a fast getaway unless you leave it there, which he didn't" Julio added as the team continued to watch the video.

"The Ferris wheel worker stated that he didn't notice anything wrong on his ride until the first two victims came closer as the wheel made its way around" Amy said. "So that would give our shooter plenty of time to escape before anyone knew what happened" Provenza said. "Are we looking at a professional hit here?" he added. "I don't think so Lieutenant. We didn't find anything in the victims backgrounds to suggest that. I think this was a possible hit on the carnival itself" Sharon said to Provenza and the rest of the team. "Where are we on the list of employees?" Sharon asked. "We're currently going through that list, Captain, so far nothing" Provenza stated. "How about recent gun sales?" Sharon asked Amy. "I got a list of recent sales, matching the criteria, it narrowed it down to four people who recently purchased those items. Two of them were sold at the Turner's Outdoorsman located in West Covina. The people who purchased those are registered hunters with the California gaming department" Amy said to them. "What about the third and fourth ones?" Andy asked. "The third person is Jeremy Berkowitz, age 30. He purchased his rifle at the Turner's Outdoorsman in Reseda" Amy said. "I ran a background check on Jeremy, he works for the California Highway Patrol as an officer" she added. "So that leaves us with the fourth person" Sharon said. "Mark Wallace, 35 years old, resides in Long Beach. He purchased the items at the Turner's Outdoorsman located in Signal Hill" Amy said. "What does he do?" Sharon asked. "Uh, I wasn't able to run a background on him yet Captain" Amy stated as she stood up.

"I can run it from here, Amy" Mike said as he opened his laptop and started typing in the name. Mike pulled up his DMV photo along with other information. "Looks like he lives in an apartment complex on Magnolia Avenue and 9th Street" Mike stated. "Buzz, can we compare the two photos?" Sharon asked him. Buzz placed the DMV picture and the picture from the surveillance camera side by side. "It's hard to tell, Captain" Buzz said. "I can run my facial recognition software on it" Mike said to her. Buzz uploaded the image to a thumb drive and handed it to Mike. Mike then walked out of the room and returned to his desk to run the image.

"In the meantime, I want to know where Mark Wallace is right now" Sharon said as she stood up and left the room. Andy glanced at Provenza and then stood up to follow Sharon out. Andy saw Sharon return to her office, closing the door behind her. Andy waited for Provenza to catch up to him before proceeding over to their desks. "I got a match!" Mike said out loud as the screen on his computer showed a 89.9% match on the two photos. "Are you sure Tao?" Provenza said as he walked over to Mike's desk. Sharon came out of her office as well. "It's only 89.9% match, but I think it's good" Mike said. Andy stood up and walked over to the printer and picked up the information he ran on his computer. "Okay Captain, Mark Wallace is currently employed with Cal State, Long Beach, as a security guard there" Andy said shaking his head as he read off the report he printed. "Lieutenant, contact Long Beach police, get a warrant to search his apartment" Sharon said to Provenza. "Yes Captain" Provenza said as he picked up his phone. "Amy, you go with him" Sharon said to her. Amy nodded. "Grab Buzz as well" Sharon added as Buzz was still in the RACR room.

"Andy, you, along with Mike, Julio and myself will head over to Cal State, Long Beach. I want to meet with the head of their security, but I don't want to alert them ahead of time" Sharon said to Andy as she went in to her office to grab some things. Andy nodded and then looked over at Mike and Julio. "Lieutenant, if you can ask Long Beach police to have some patrol cars sent over to Cal State and meet us there as well" Sharon said to Provenza as they were leaving the office. "Yes Captain, be careful" Provenza said to Sharon as he glanced at Andy. The four of them left the office, leaving Provenza, Amy, and Buzz. Provenza called Long Beach police.

Mike and Julio drove together in one car and Sharon and Andy drove in their car. They headed down Interstate 710 to Interstate 405 and headed towards Cal State at Long Beach. When they arrived at the campus, they met up with two patrol cars from the Long Beach Police Department. "Hello, I'm Captain Flynn, Major Crimes, LAPD" Sharon said as she shook the patrol officers hands. Andy followed her and so did Mike and Julio. "What do you have, Captain?" one of the patrol officers asked her. She turned to Andy who held the folder with the information, and he pulled out of photo and description of Mark Wallace. "This is the guy wanted for questioning regarding a recent shooting that occurred in the city of Los Angeles" Andy said as he handed out the flyer to the patrol officers. "He works at this campus as a security guard for the public safety department" Andy continued as he looked at the officers. "He is to be considered armed and dangerous" Sharon said to them as she looked at Andy.

"I don't want to have an incident here on campus so what I was thinking is that we meet at the public safety department headquarters and I will speak to the director of public safety first" Sharon explained to the patrol officers. "What do you need us to do, Captain?" another patrol officer asked Sharon. "I'll need you to hold point here, and then another group over here" Sharon said as she pointed to the campus map. "We're not sure if this guy is working today so be on the lookout" Mike said to them. They nodded in agreement. Everyone got back in their vehicles and they drove over to the public safety building across the campus.

Sharon and Andy got out of their car and headed inside with Mike and Julio following them. Sharon made her way to the receptionist's desk and flashed her badge. "Hello, I'm Captain Sharon Flynn of the LAPD, I was wondering if Director Carter was available" Sharon said to the receptionist. "Do you have an appointment with him?" the receptionist asked her. "No, but this matter is kind of urgent" Sharon answered her and then glanced at Andy. "One moment, please" she said to Sharon and then dialed a number on her phone. "Yes, Director the LAPD is here to see you, a Captain and some other men. They say it's urgent" she said to the person over the phone and then hung up. "He'll be right with you" she said to Sharon. Sharon looked at her. "Thank you" she said and they waited.

Director Carter stepped out of his office right away and shook Andy's hand first. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Captain" he said to Andy. "Uh actually, she's my Captain" Andy said as he pointed to Sharon who now had that Darth Flynn look on her face. Mike and Julio chuckled but then cleared their throats to make it look like that's what they were doing all along. "Oh, I'm sorry, Captain. I just assumed, well you know" Director Carter said to Sharon as he held out his hand for her to shake. Sharon reluctantly shook his hand. "I'm sure Director" she said to him, giving a good glare towards him. "Uh, we can talk in my office, please follow me" Director Carter said to Sharon and they followed him back to his office.

Sharon took a seat in front of his desk. "So what can I do for the LAPD?" Director Carter said to them. "We need to know if this person works for you" Sharon said as she showed a picture of Mark Wallace to Director Carter. "Yes, that's Mark. He works here, although I don't think he's working today" Director Carter said as he pulled out a chart and looked at it. "Okay, here it says he called in sick" Director Carter said to Sharon. Sharon then looked over at Andy who stepped to the side of the office and pulled out his phone, dialing Provenza's number. "Hey, we're at the college. He called in sick today. Where are you guys located?" Andy said to Provenza. "We are just driving up to his apartment now. Long Beach sent us two patrol cars so we are meeting up with them here. I'll let the Captain know what we find after we search his place" Provenza said to Andy and then they both hung up their phones.

"What's really going on here, Captain?" Director Carter asked Sharon as he sat back in his chair. "We believe Mark Wallace is a suspect in our investigation of a multiple victim shooting that occurred last night in Los Angeles" Sharon said to him. Director Carter could not believe what he was hearing. "What shift does Mark usually work, Director?" Sharon asked him. "Uh, the morning shift, that's 7 till 3:30, with rotating days off" Director Carter stated. "Were you aware he purchased a rifle, scope, and silencer recently?" Andy said as he showed the paper to the Director. Director Carter looked over the bill of sale they had a copy of and shook his head in disbelief. "No, I wasn't aware of this" Director Carter said. "Do you know where he would be? Did he mention anything to you in passing, last couple of days?" Mike asked. Director Carter looked over at Mike, who was leaning against the wall. "No, I don't know where he is" Director Carter stated. "If he shows up here tomorrow, I want you to give us a call, okay?" Sharon said as she handed him her business card and he took it. "Sure Captain" Director Carter said and the four of them left his office and headed outside.

Meanwhile, Provenza was able to get a hold of the landlord at the apartment complex where Mark resided and showed him the warrant. "Now, we just need you to let us in to his apartment, if he doesn't answer" Provenza explained to the landlord and he nodded. Provenza, Amy, and Buzz along with the patrol officers from Long Beach walked over to the apartment that belonged to Mark and Provenza knocked on the door. "LAPD, Mr. Mark Wallace, open the door!" Provenza yelled out but got no response. He stated it again. "LAPD, Mark Wallace, I need you to open your front door" Provenza said but nothing happened. He nodded to the landlord and the landlord opened the door to the apartment and then moved out of the way.

Amy and the patrol officers entered the apartment first followed by Provenza and Buzz. "Clear!" Amy yelled out along with the patrol officers. The apartment was empty, with no sign of Mark. Amy walked past a desk and noted something sitting on top. "Lieutenant" Amy said to Provenza and Provenza met her in front of the desk. "Buzz I want you to start filming" Provenza said and then looked at Amy. "What is it?" he asked her. "Look, brochures from Yosemite National Park, Topanga State Park, Sequoia National Park, I think he's heading up North, sir" Amy said to Provenza. 'Where was he heading?' he thought to himself. Provenza dialed a phone number from his phone. "Yes, Captain, we have a problem" Provenza said as he looked around the apartment, no sign of the rifle, scope, or silencer.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 4

"What kind of problem, Lieutenant?" Sharon said over her phone which got the attention of Andy while they sat in their car. "Mark Wallace is not at his apartment. Looks like he packed a bag and headed somewhere North of LA" Provenza said. "Why do you say that?" Sharon asked him. "We found brochures of Yosemite, Topanga State Park, and Sequoia on his desk here" Provenza said. "What kind of car does Mark Wallace own" Sharon asked. "I'm not sure Captain, but we did not find the rifle or anything else for that matter here in his apartment" Provenza said to her. "Alright, meet us back at the office when you are finished there" Sharon said to him and hung up with him. She dialed another number. "Mike, what type of car does Mark Wallace drive?" Sharon asked him as Julio was driving their car. "A Chevy pickup truck, ma'am" Mike said to her. "Do you have the license plate number?" Sharon asked. "Yes I do" Mike said as he looked through some papers. "I need you to put out an APB and inform every law enforcement entity that the LAPD is looking for that pickup truck" Sharon said to Mike. "Right away, Captain" Mike said and hung up from her.

Andy drove them back to the PAB and when they arrived in the Murder Room, Chief Howard was waiting for them. "Chief" Sharon said as she stepped into her office. "Captain, I need to know what we have here. I don't want the whole city of Los Angeles afraid of some sniper on the loose" Chief Howard said to her. "My team has identified the shooter, Mark Wallace, 35 years old, resides in Long Beach. Lieutenant Provenza got a search warrant for his apartment but did not find anything except for brochures of parks upstate" Sharon explained to Chief Howard as she handed him the file she was holding. Sharon took a seat in her chair just as her cell phone was ringing. She glanced at the number and saw it was Rusty calling her. She let it go to voicemail. Chief Howard read over the file. "We have an APB out on his vehicle and sent a notice to all law enforcement agencies" Sharon added. "I'll do my best Captain to keep the press from turning this into a crisis" Chief Howard said to her. "Keep me apprised of the situation as it develops, okay?" he added and then left her office.

Rusty called Sharon's phone but it went to voicemail so he dialed Andy's phone next. Andy was sitting at his desk when his cell phone rang. He saw it was Rusty calling him. "Hello?" he said as he answered it. "Hey, I tried calling Mom but she didn't answer" Rusty said to Andy. "Yeah, she's in a meeting with Chief Howard. Is everything okay?" Andy asked him. "Oh, yes, everything is fine. Matthew just wants to go play outside in the backyard but I told him that he should rest inside. He wanted me to call one of you" Rusty said to him. Andy chuckled. "Put him on the phone, I'll speak with him" Andy said and waited. He turned in his chair to face the windows outside.

"Daddy?" Matthew said over the phone. "Hey buddy, how are you feeling?" Andy asked him. "I feel better, can you tell Rusty that I can go outside to play in the backyard" Matthew said to Andy. "Do you have any energy to be playing outside in the yard?" Andy asked him. "Yesssss! I have a lot of energy" Matthew said loudly into the phone. Andy pulled the phone away from his ear and cringed. "Okay, okay. Listen to me. Did you have anything to eat this morning?" Andy asked him. "I had toast" Matthew said. "Anything else?" Andy said. "No" Matthew answered. "Okay, do me a favor. Try eating a bowl of cereal and after you do, if you feel better, I'll tell Rusty you can go play outside for a half hour, alright?" Andy said to him. "Okay" Matthew said in a quieter voice. "Okay, can you put Rusty back on the phone, please" Andy said to him. "Okay Daddy" Matthew said and then handed the phone to Rusty.

"Hey Rusty, make him a bowl of cereal, but no milk, if he eats all of it and doesn't get sick afterwards, he can go outside and play for a half hour. I don't want him overdoing it though" Andy said to Rusty over the phone. "Got it, thanks Andy" Rusty said. "No problem" Andy said and then hung up his phone. Andy turned around in his chair and saw Chief Howard leaving his office. Sharon glanced up at Andy who was now standing by her door. "Did Rusty call you?" she said to him as he entered her office. "Yes, everything is fine. Matthew just wanted to go outside and play. I told Rusty to make him some cereal, and if he feels better after eating that, he could go outside for a half hour and play" Andy told her. Sharon nodded. "He's getting restless in the house I take it?" Sharon said. "Sounds that way" Andy said to her.

Provenza, Amy, and Buzz returned from Mark Wallace's apartment carrying a bag of evidence. Sharon saw them enter the Murder Room and she stood up from her desk. Andy waited for her to leave her office before following her out in to the room. "What did you find over there?" Sharon asked pointing to the bag of evidence. "Just receipts from the rifle he purchased, the brochures we informed you about, oh and we think we may have found a motive behind these shootings, Captain" Provenza said to Sharon. "What is that, Lieutenant?" Sharon asked him. "We found a newspaper article about the traveling carnival, and something popped out" Amy said to Sharon as she handed her the article. Sharon glanced at Provenza and Andy before reading the article. "So Mark Wallace's brother was fired from this particular carnival a year ago for gross negligence" Sharon said. "Right, Captain, and then his brother committed suicide two weeks later" Amy said to her. "His brother had worked for the carnival for over twenty years, as the chief ride operator. Then one day two kids get killed from one of the rides that his brother was operating and the director of the carnival fired him" Amy said as she handed out the different articles they found at Mark's apartment to the team to read.

"So this is a revenge shooting?" Andy said. "It looks like Mark blames the carnival director for the death of his older brother" Mike said as he read one of the articles. "And now he's on the loose, Captain" Provenza said to Sharon. Sharon glanced at Provenza and then walked over to the Murder Board. "We have an APB out for his car, all law enforcement agencies know we want to speak to him" Sharon said to Provenza. Mike's phone rang and he answered. "Lieutenant Tao" he said over the phone. He snapped his fingers in the air and everyone turned around to look at him, Sharon walking closer to his desk. Mike was writing down some information. "What is it Mike?" Sharon asked as he hung up his phone. "That was the California Highway Patrol out of Valencia, they found Mark Wallace's pickup truck abandoned at the Pilot Travel Center, just north of them" Mike said. "More importantly, did they find Mark?" Provenza asked Mike. "No, no sign of him anywhere. They searched his truck but didn't find the rifle or any weapons" Mike said. "Dammit!" Sharon muttered as she turned around and started walking towards her office. Mike glanced up at Andy who was watching Sharon walk away. Andy then turned and looked at the team, arms folded across his chest.

A half hour later, Mike got another phone call from the California Highway Patrol. As Mike again wrote down the information they are giving him over the phone, Amy did some more research into Mark's purchase of the rifle. "Lieutenant, it looks like Mark purchased a cache of weapons for the past couple of months" Amy said as she printed up the information and walked over to the printer. She walked past Provenza's desk, depositing a quarter into his jar and then handed him the papers. "We got a stolen vehicle and a description that matches Mark Wallace" Mike said out loud to the team. Andy stood up from his desk and glanced at Sharon who was already walking out of her office. "Tell me exactly what we have here, Mike" Sharon said to him as she walked over to his desk.

"California Highway Patrol received a call from a woman, whose car was stolen about fifteen minutes ago. The description that the woman gave matches Mark Wallace" Mike said to Sharon and the team. "Where was the car stolen?" Sharon asked. "At a shopping center in Castaic" Mike said. "Where is this guy going?" Provenza questioned. "If he had all of these brochures for parks, there's Castaic Lake State Park right in that area where he abandoned his truck and stole the car" Julio stated as he placed everything on the map that was on the Murder Board. "There's camping there year-round and lots of places to get lost in the wilderness, ma'am" Julio said to Sharon. "If we are going to head up there, Captain, we are going to need some sturdy shoes as the terrain is rocky" he added. Sharon looked at him inquisitively. "I've been up there before" Julio said.

"Notify California Highway Patrol, Mike. Tell them we are going to enroute to the location of the stolen car and that we think he may be headed to that State park" Sharon said to Mike as she walked towards her office. "Oh, and tell them not to act, until we get there" she said as she stopped before entering her office. Sharon then walked over to her desk and picked up her phone. "Yes Chief, I wanted to inform you of our new development" Sharon said over the phone to Chief Howard.

Everyone gathered their things and headed out towards the parking garage. Julio made sure that each car had an M4 rifle in it, along with a shot gun before they left. Sharon and Andy walked over to the cars. "Okay, is everyone ready?" Sharon said as she glanced over at them. "Yes Captain" they said, almost in unison. "Let's head out, we should be there within the hour. Lights and sirens are authorized" Sharon said to the team and they headed in to their cars. Andy and Sharon were already wearing their vests and Andy drove out of the parking lot, following Provenza and Amy, who were following Julio, Mike, and Buzz. "I'm going to text Rusty to let him know we might be late coming home tonight" she said to Andy as she texted Rusty on her phone. A minute later, Rusty texted back. 'Okay. Everything is fine. Matthew is now back on the couch watching Batman again' Rusty said in his text and then sent her a picture of Matthew and Moxie both laying on the couch. Sharon smiled at the picture. Andy glanced over at her. "Everything okay?" he asked her as he maneuvered around the cars in front of them on Interstate 5. "Yes, Matthew is watching TV again, laying on the couch" Sharon said. Andy smiled as he continued to drive them.

They drove for a little bit in silence before Andy said what was on his mind. "We don't know what this guy is capable of doing, Sharon. He probably has his arsenal with him" Andy said to her. Sharon looked over at him as he continued to drive on the open highway. She reached over and grabbed his right hand with her left hand and held on to it. "Promise me that you'll be safe?" Sharon said to Andy. Andy smiled and chuckled. "I was going to say the same thing to you" he said to her. Sharon smiled at that remark. Truth was Sharon didn't want Andy taking any drastic measures with this suspect. Sharon was nervous because not only was he her husband, but now since they officially adopted Matthew, he was a new father officially and that boy looked up to him. She wanted Andy to be around them for a very long time.

Andy felt Sharon's hand shake a little and glanced over at her. "Are you okay?" he asked her. Sharon cleared her throat. "Yes" she said and Andy continued driving as they exited the highway at Castaic. Sharon called Provenza on the phone when they turned on the road leading to the State Park. "Lieutenant, we are meeting with the Highway Patrol at the front entrance of the park. They were informed to not let anyone else inside" Sharon said to Provenza. "Yes, Captain. We should be there in ten minutes" Provenza said to her and then he hung up his phone.

They arrived at the entrance to the park, turning their lights and sirens off. Andy pulled up their car behind Provenza and Amy. Sharon looked out her window and saw the massive presence that the California Highway Patrol had there. She exited the vehicle and walked over to where they were gathered. Andy followed her. The rest of the team fell in behind them. "I'm Captain Sharon Flynn, LAPD, Major Crimes" she said to the commanding officer of the highway patrol. "Commander Bob Lancaster, CHP" he said to her as he shook her hand. "Welcome to Castaic" he added. Andy, Provenza, and Mike then shook the commander's hand. "Your guy is up here, Captain" Commander Lancaster stated to Sharon as he turned around to face her. "We saw his car at the base of a trailhead" he said as he pointed to the map. "I have officers set up there right now, watching that trail" Commander Lancaster said as he looked at her. "Also, we have evacuated the park from the rest of the public" he added as he was staring at her.

Sharon caught the Commander staring at her as she was looking at the map. "How do we get there?" Sharon asked him as she glanced at him and then at Andy. Andy looked at the Commander as he spoke. "Well, Captain, my team and I can take you up there. Uh I mean, with the rest of your team that is" Commander Lancaster said to Sharon. Andy didn't like this one bit. Provenza was also looking at what was unfolding in front of him. "Commander, that's very kind of you but I'd rather ride up there in my own vehicle, with my Lieutenant" Sharon said to him. Andy stepped forward in between the Commander and Sharon now. "Of course Captain" Commander Lancaster said to her as he looked at Andy. "Follow our cars, we'll lead you up there" Commander Lancaster said to everyone standing there and then headed over to his car.

Sharon turned around to Andy and her team. "I don't like that guy" Andy said quietly to Sharon as they walked back to their car. "Andy, let's focus on our suspect here" Sharon said to him as she got in their car. Andy walked around to the driver's side and got in. "He was hitting on you, Sharon" Andy said as he started the car. "I know, why do you think I'm riding with you up there?" Sharon said to him. Sharon then paused as Andy followed the vehicles. Andy glanced at her. "I want us all to be safe as much as possible out there" she said and then took a deep breath. "I need you to stay focused, Andy" she said as she watched him drive. "I will, but first I will introduce myself to the Commander, in a friendly manner of course" Andy said as they pulled up to the trailhead. Sharon just shook her head at him.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 5

Andy stepped out of their car and walked over to where the Commander was standing. "Uh, Commander Lancaster. I never got the chance to introduce myself, I'm Lieutenant Flynn" Andy said smiling to the Commander as he shook his hand firmly. "Flynn, any relation?" the Commander asked him as he nodded towards Sharon. Andy smiled again and pulled him in closer. "Yeah, she's my wife, got it?" Andy said to him, leaning close so only he could hear. Commander Lancaster pulled back and nodded his head. "Got it" Lancaster said. "Good" Andy said as he patted him on his shoulder and walked over to where Sharon was standing, watching them. Andy grabbed the M4 rifle out of their car and adjusted the stock of the weapon. He then focused on Sharon, making sure her vest was secured. "Are you ready?" he asked her. She pulled out the shot gun and slung the strap over her head. "Ready" she said taking a deep breath.

They met up with the rest of the team, all carrying M4s and shot guns with them. They were at the base of the trailhead. "How far does this trail go?" Sharon asked them. "A couple of miles" one of the officers said. "It ends at the lake, which is in the middle of the park" another officer stated. "Commander, there is a tent perched out there, maybe five miles in?" an officer informed Commander Lancaster. "Did you check it?" Commander Lancaster asked. "No sir, but we were told by the park ranger that all camp sites were accounted for and there is no one assigned to that particular camp site" he stated. "Okay, we'll proceed with caution" Commander Lancaster said as he glanced at Sharon and her team. "Captain, my team is going to spread out here, you and your team can approach this way and we'll surround the camp site" he said to Sharon as he pointed out into the forest. "We'll be on channel 2 on our radios" he added. Sharon checked her radio as did everyone else and placed it on the right channel, before placing the ear bud in her ear.

"Buzz I want you staying here" Sharon said as she turned around and faced him. "But Captain" Buzz started to object. "Buzz, you stay here" Provenza said before Sharon could argue with him. Buzz glanced over at Provenza and then back at Sharon. "Fine" he said, defeated. "Thank you" Sharon told him. Even though he was in the reserve officers corps, he didn't have that much experience in the field outdoors, and Sharon wanted to keep him safe. The team panned out, heading up the trail in search of Mark Wallace. "There's not going to be many places to seek cover out here" Andy said to Sharon as they moved ahead. Julio and Mike flanked their left side and Amy and Provenza were on their right side. The Commander and the rest of the highway patrol were bringing up the right side of the trail.

They had been walking for an hour, and saw the camp site up ahead of them. They slowed their approach and came to a stop. "Do you see movement?" the Commander said over the radio. "Negative" was heard by the team. They slowly approached the tent. One of the highway patrol officers and Julio slowly moved up on the tent, while the others provided cover for them. Julio nodded to the officer and he pulled back the tent flap. Julio pointed his gun inside. "Clear" he said into his radio. Sharon and Andy moved ahead to the tent and saw the weapons supply Mark had brought with him. The rifle that was used in the shooting was in there as well. "Make all these weapons safe" Sharon said to Julio and the other officer. "Yes ma'am" Julio said to her and then Sharon turned around and looked at Andy. "I don't like this one bit" he said to her. Just then her head turned to look out to the forest as they heard movement coming from further up the trail.

"Mike you stay with Julio and the weapons" Provenza said to Mike as he moved over to where Sharon and Andy were standing. Two highway patrol officers also stayed back. The Commander and the rest of his officers moved out further up the trail on the right side. Sharon, Andy, Provenza, and Amy moved up the left side. Andy had the M4 rifle he was carrying, aimed in at the wilderness ahead of them. His heart was now pounding in his ear. Sharon saw sweat coming down the side of Andy's face. 'It's not that hot out' she thought to herself. The sun was still shining, but in a couple of hours, they would be losing the sunlight. They did not want to still be there when night fell. "Are you okay?" Sharon asked him, with a worried look on her face, her hand reaching out to touch his shoulder. He looked at Sharon. "I'm fine" he said but she knew he was lying through his teeth, she could tell and was about to say something but they heard a noise.

Andy saw some movement ahead of them, maybe twenty feet from their location. He held up his hand and pointed to his eyes and then straight ahead. "Hold up Commander, we spot movement ahead" Sharon said quietly over the radio. "Roger that" Commander Lancaster said and stopped walking. The movement came closer to their location and pretty soon, Mark Wallace was in their sights. "Mark Wallace!" Sharon called out. Mark stopped and stood where he was at, around ten feet away from them. Andy, Sharon, Provenza, and Amy all had their weapons pointed at him. Sharon saw Mark was holding a handgun. "LAPD! Drop your weapon!" Andy yelled to Mark. Mark looked around and saw the other officers coming up his left side and their weapons were drawn as well.

Mark stood there on the trail, still holding the handgun. "Mark! Drop your weapon, now!" Sharon yelled as she stood next to Andy. Mark looked around again at everyone as they aimed in on him. "It's over Mark, drop your weapon" Provenza yelled. "I did it for my brother" Mark said to them. Sharon moved forward a little and Andy saw her out of the corner of his eye. "He was employed by that carnival company for a long time, and then one day after an accident on a ride, they fire him, blaming him for negligence" Mark said in a worrisome tone. "Mark, Mark, you got to drop your weapon. Can you do that for me?" Sharon said to him in a calm voice. Mark looked at Sharon. Sharon saw Mark was clearly distraught over the whole incident. "I wanted to avenge my brother. I wanted to make that carnival owner suffer, the way my brother did after he fired him" Mark said as he kept talking to them. "Mark, you killed innocent people at that carnival" Sharon said to him. "I know, and I'm sorry for doing that" Mark said.

Sharon looked over to her right and saw the Commander and his team. She glanced at Andy, briefly, who was still aimed in on Mark along with Provenza and Amy. "Mark, drop your weapon. We can talk about everything, but I need you to drop that weapon, now!" Sharon said to him. She didn't think she was getting through to him so she lowered her weapon. Andy saw her do this out of the corner of his eye as he was fixed on watching Mark. "What are you doing?" Andy said to her, franticly. "Mark, lower your weapon" Sharon said to him, motioning her hands slowly. Mark closed his eyes and lowered his head. "It wasn't supposed to be like this" he spoke. "What Mark? What wasn't supposed to be like this?" Sharon asked him as she took a half a step closer to Mark. Andy was going to pull her back but she was just out of his reach.

"I was hoping you wouldn't find me. That by the time you discovered who I was, I'd be long gone" Mark said and closed his eyes. Sharon glanced quickly at Andy and then back at Mark. "You leave me no choice now" Mark said as he opened his eyes, looking right at Sharon. He raised the gun, aimed at his head and pulled the trigger. "No Mark!" Sharon yelled but it was too late. Mark's body laid dead on the ground. Amy and Provenza moved forward along with the California Highway Patrol officers. They cleared Mark's body of any more weapons and Amy checked for a pulse. Amy shook her head, not feeling a pulse.

Andy turned towards Sharon who was still looking at Mark's body. She stared blankly at the body lying on the ground. Sharon caught her breath as Andy walked over to her. Sharon shook her head and then walked away from him, back in the direction of where they came from. Andy stood there and debated whether or not to go after her. "We'll call the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office to pick up the body, Lieutenant Provenza" Commander Lancaster stated as he walked over to stand next to the body. "Thank you, Commander" Provenza said to him and then walked over to where Andy was standing. "Uh, Amy, see if Julio and Mike need a hand with the weapons at the tent" Provenza said as he turned to her. "Sure, Lieutenant" Amy said as she walked past Andy and him. "What are you waiting for, Flynn?" Provenza said to Andy. Andy glanced at him. "Go after her, make sure she's okay" Provenza encouraged Andy and then he walked to meet up with Amy, Mike, and Julio.

Andy took the advice of Provenza and followed Sharon down the trail where they came from. It was getting closer to dusk. On the way towards the cars, Andy had passed Buzz along the trail. "Sir?" Buzz said to Andy. Andy looked at him and stopped walking. "Yeah Buzz?" Andy said to him. "She's sitting by the cars" Buzz told him and continued walking to where the rest of the team was at. Andy kept walking back to the cars. He met up with Sharon, who sat on a log, right at the start of the trailhead. Andy sat down next to her. He leaned his arms on his knees and glanced up at the sky before turning his head to Sharon. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked him quietly. He looked at her, puzzled. "Your heart, is your heart okay?" she asked him again. "Yes" he said to her. "You don't normally sweat that much and I saw that it was dripping down your face earlier" Sharon said to him. He hated to admit that when he heard his heart pounding in his ear, it had freaked him out. His heart scare was the last time that he had that happen to him. He watched her as she sat on that log and wondered how she turned around his concern for her to her concern for him and his health. "Are you okay?" he asked her. She shook her head no and looked the other way.

Mike, Julio, and Amy were carrying the duffle bags with the empty weapons inside of them and Provenza was walking with Buzz back towards the cars. "So he just killed himself instead of letting us arrest him?" Buzz asked Provenza as they walked. "Buzz, sometimes it's hard to talk a suspect out of doing something if their mind has already been made up" Provenza said to him as he placed his hand on Buzz's back and continued towards the cars. Sharon and Andy looked up at them coming closer and Sharon stood up, wiping her eyes before meeting the rest of the team. "I want us to inventory all of the weapons when we get back, Lieutenant" Sharon said as she looked at Provenza. Provenza glanced at his watch and saw that it was close to 5 o'clock. They were an hour away, more with traffic heading into the city.

Sharon then turned and walked towards their car and glanced at Andy. Andy unlocked the car and she got in. Andy walked over to meet Provenza and the rest of them. Julio, Amy, and Mike placed the bags in the trunk of the car that Julio drove. Julio locked the trunk, securing the weapons. "Alright, let's head back before traffic really backs us up" Provenza said to them and they got in their cars.

Andy opened his door and got in the driver's seat. He started the car and noticed that Sharon didn't say a word to him. He glanced over at her before he started to drive. She was sitting there, staring out the front window. "Sharon?" he said as he touched her left hand. She turned her hand over and intertwined her fingers with his. "Nobody else got hurt, not us, or the highway patrol, or the public" Andy said to her, watching her as she sat there. "I know" she said quietly. Andy knew that if Sharon wanted to talk about it, she would do so on her own time. He knew how long it finally took her to open up to him about the courthouse shooting last year. He would wait patiently for her, like he always did. He started to drive back to LA and the office.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** The hiatus is over today! Major Crimes is back tonight! This is the last chapter for this story. I wanted to take us all the way to the last day of the hiatus and I did. Thank you all for the reviews of this latest story of mine. I will be writing more stories that include this storyline I have developed but I will also try my hand in writing missing scenes from these new episodes. Enjoy and thank you!

Chapter 6

The drive was a long one. The team had hit traffic on Interstate 5 as soon as they were south of Santa Clarita. As their car came to a slow crawl, Sharon pulled out her phone and texted Rusty. 'How are things there?' she wrote to him. She glanced over at Andy. She hadn't said anything to him since they left the park and she knew she needed to say something to him. "Dodgers tickets go on sale tomorrow" she said to him, hoping that would end the silence in the car. "Yeah, I was hoping we could all go to a game in April" Andy said to her as he stopped the car. Traffic came to a halt. Andy looked over at Sharon. "Some people's minds can't be changed, Sharon, no matter how much you try" Andy said to her. She knew what and who he was talking about. She had tried to convince Mark Wallace to drop his weapon and turn himself in, but instead he killed himself.

"It doesn't get easier" Sharon said as she looked out at the traffic in front of them. "No, it doesn't" Andy said. Sharon's phone alerted to a message. "What did Rusty say?" Andy asked her as they started to slowly move through the traffic. She glanced at him and shook her head. He knew her even if she didn't think he was paying attention. She looked at her phone. 'Everything is fine. Did you catch the guy?' Rusty's message said. "He said everything is fine and wanted to know if we caught the guy" Sharon said to Andy. Traffic was moving again. Sharon paused for a minute before answering Rusty. 'Yes but it didn't turn out like we would have wanted' she wrote him.

They arrived back at the PAB an hour later and brought the weapons up to their office. "Why don't you bring those to the conference room, we can inventory them there" Sharon said to Julio, Mike, and Amy as they walked out of the elevator. "Captain" Chief Howard said to Sharon as they turned the corner. Sharon stopped and let the rest of her team head inside their office. She nodded to Andy as he passed her up. "Chief" she said as she walked closer to where he was standing. "I heard about what happened out there today. It's never easy when the suspect takes his own life in front of you" Chief Howard said to Sharon. Sharon looked at him and wondered where he had heard what happened. Sharon nodded. "Tell your team to go home, you can inventory the weapons and write the reports tomorrow" Chief Howard said. She stood there as Chief Howard left Sharon glanced at her watch. It was now closer to 7.

Sharon made her way back to the office and found the team inside the conference room, sorting through the weapons. She walked over to them. "Change of plans. Chief Howard wants us to go home and start fresh tomorrow morning with everything" Sharon said to them. "What should we do with the weapons, ma'am?" Julio asked Sharon. "We'll place them in the storage locker and lock them up, securely" Sharon said to him. They repacked the duffle bags and then did what Sharon told them to do. The storage locker was located in their office, where Rusty's old desk was. They had done some remolding over the past couple of months and one of the newest things they acquired was a storage locker. The locker was bolted in to the wall and the ground and you needed a key plus a combination to open it.

Once Julio, Mike, and Amy secured the weapons they discovered from Mark Wallace, they went to their desks and had a seat. It had been a long day for everyone and they were glad to have it over. Mike gathered up his things and then stood up from his chair. "Good night everyone" he said as he walked out of the office. "Hey Mike, wait up!" Julio called out to him as he also gathered his things for the night. "Night sirs, ma'am" Julio said to Provenza, Andy, and Sharon who were all standing by Andy's desk. Julio left the office. "Amy, you can leave too" Sharon said as she walked over to Amy's desk. "I know Captain, I'm just waiting for Cooper, he said he's almost finished with something" Amy said to Sharon. Sharon nodded and then turned around. She walked passed her two Lieutenants and entered her office.

"I'll leave her to you, Flynn" Provenza said to Andy as Andy watched Sharon sit down behind her desk. "Oh, and I was glad to see that your jealousy earlier when the Commander was hitting on the Captain, didn't affect your job, Flynn" Provenza said to him and Andy gave him a look. "And I mean that as a friend" Provenza added as he walked away to pack up his things at his desk. "Good night!" he said as he left the office. Andy stood there, thinking about what happened earlier. All he wanted to do was set the record straight for that Commander guy. He knew that he shouldn't let his jealousy carry over on the job, and after he had his brief talk with that Commander, he had felt better.

Andy turned to look at Sharon. He had hoped that his jealousy didn't factor in to Sharon's ominous mood she was in since they left the park. Andy stood there watching her as she worked through some papers on her desk. He didn't notice that Amy had left, Buzz was gone as well. He took a deep breath and walked over to her office. He knocked on her door frame and entered when she looked up at him. "Since you sent everyone else home, I'm surprised we're still here" Andy said to Sharon as he walked over to her desk. He didn't get a response from her which made him frown. "Sharon?" he said as he walked closer to her chair and leaned up against her desk. "I keep thinking that if we hadn't of pushed him at that park, things would have ended differently" Sharon said to him. "Yes, they could have ended differently" he said to her as he grabbed her hand and held it. "He could have shot us" Andy said to her, barely above a whisper. That caught her attention and she turned her head to look up at him.

"Anyone of us could have died today, if Mark had pulled the trigger on us" Andy said to her as she turned her chair to face him better. Andy knelt down on the floor, beside her, holding both of her hands in his. Andy closed his eyes for a brief second before opening them again. "Why did you lower your weapon?" he asked her. She looked at him briefly but then moved her eyes downward. "That guy killed four people, Sharon" he said in a louder, pleading voice. "I know" she said quietly. She looked him in his eyes and saw dark brown ones looking back at her. She instantly saw the panic in them. She leaned forward and kissed him fully on his lips. "I'm sorry" Sharon whispered to him when they broke apart. Andy shook his head in disagreement. "You wanted to get through to him, I know" he said to her as he caressed her face.

"I'm sorry that I got jealous earlier with that Commander" Andy said to Sharon, in his apologetic voice. "Andy" Sharon whispered to him as she shook her head. "I just don't like other men hitting on you" Andy gruffly said to her. "Andy, he didn't know we are married" Sharon said as she caressed his face with her hand. "No, but I had to set the record straight for him, and once I did" Andy said but paused for a moment as he looked into her eyes. "You know I love you" Andy said to her. "Of course I do" she said to him as she ran her thumb over his lips. Andy took a shuttered breath and he closed his eyes when she did that. "Are you ready to go home now? I'm sure Matthew is anxious to see us" Andy said to Sharon as he stood up and held out his hand for her to take.

Sharon gathered her things and neatly placed the papers on her desk. She then took Andy's hand and walked out of her office with him. "You know, I wasn't going to say anything but it was actually nice to see you tell that Commander, we are married" Sharon said as they made their way over to the elevators. "I don't know what you said to him, but he became very professional the rest of the time" Sharon added as Andy pressed the button to call the elevator. "Yeah, well" Andy smiled at her, and shrugged his shoulders. The elevator opened and they walked inside. Andy pressed the button for the parking garage and Sharon leaned into his side.

They walked to their car and Andy held the door open for Sharon as she got settled in the passenger seat. He leaned in and kissed her again. She pulled back and smiled. "At this rate, we'll never get home to see Matthew" she chuckled at him. "Can't help it that you drive me crazy, Sharon" he whispered to her in her ear and then pulled back. He closed her door and walked around to the driver's side. He took a deep breath before he got in, to calm himself down and to also steady himself after the events of the day. He opened the door and slid into the driver's seat and started the car. He glanced over at Sharon and saw that she was ready. He then drove them home.

When they arrived home, they made their way to the back door. Andy opened the door and Sharon walked in towards the kitchen. Moxie was waiting for them to come in. "Go, I'll take him out" Andy said to Sharon as he took the dog outside. She was greeted by Matthew, who was sitting at the kitchen table, eating some chicken noodle soup. "Mommy!" Matthew said as he got up from his chair and ran over to her. He gave her a big hug. "Hi Matthew" she said, hugging him back. "I missed you today" Matthew said to her. "Oh, I've missed you too" she said as she pulled back to look at him. She felt his forehead which was cool. "How are you feeling?" Sharon asked him as she stood up and walked further in to the kitchen. "I feel better" Matthew said as he sat back in his chair and continued eating the soup. "Thank you Rusty, for taking care of him today" Sharon said to Rusty as she walked over to where he was standing by the kitchen sink. "No problem, Mom. He was fine the whole day" Rusty said to her as she patted his shoulder.

Sharon then turned to the refrigerator to see what she and Andy could have for dinner. "If everything is good here, I'm going to go over to Gus's place" Rusty said as Andy came back inside with Moxie. "I think we are good, thank you Rusty" Sharon said as she took some things out of the refrigerator and placed them on the counter. "Thank you Rusty" Matthew said to him as he was leaving. "No problem, kid" Rusty said back to him. "Bye" Rusty said as he passed Andy. "Bye, thanks again" Andy said as Rusty walked out the door.

Andy made his way in to the kitchen and saw Matthew eating some soup. "Hey buddy, how are you feeling?" Andy said to Matthew as he ruffled Matthew's hair. "I'm better" Matthew said, chuckling as Andy did that to him. "Good" Andy said as he made his way to Sharon. "What are you thinking?" Andy said to her as she was looking at the food she pulled out. "Hmm, I was thinking about cooking something quick and easy" she said to him. "I'm not that kind of guy" Andy whispered to her in a seductive manner. Sharon swatted her hand at his chest and started laughing. "Hey, don't laugh" Andy said to her. Matthew looked over at his two parents, wondering what made his new mom laugh like that. He looked down at Moxie who was sitting by him, watching him eat. He petted Moxie on his head. "Can I go watch TV?" Matthew said to the two of them. Andy walked over by him. "You watched TV most of the day" Andy said to him.

"I know but I want to finish the new Batman cartoon that Gus got me" Matthew said to Andy. Andy looked over at Sharon who was making them salads with grilled chicken. "When did Gus get you that?" Andy asked him. "Two days ago when he stopped by. He watched Batman with me when you and Mommy went out a couple of days ago and knew that I liked Batman so he bought a new cartoon for me" Matthew sat there explaining to Andy. Andy looked at Matthew's soup bowl and saw that it was almost finished. "Okay, but not too long, since you are feeling better, it is a school night and we'll be taking you to school tomorrow" Andy said to him.

Matthew ran off into the family room with Moxie following him. Andy shook his head as he got up and walked back over to Sharon. She was almost done reheating the chicken on the stove. "I guess I can't compete with Batman" he said to her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her ear. She smiled. "Okay, Batman, dinner is ready" she said as she wiggled out of his arms and turned the stove off. She placed the two salads she had prepared on the kitchen table and then placed the chicken on separate plates. Andy brought the salad dressing over to the table and the two sat down and ate.

After they ate, Sharon made sure that Matthew had everything that he needed to return to school the next day. Andy cleaned up the kitchen. Sharon then walked in to the family room and saw Matthew had fallen asleep on the couch, the TV still on. Moxie lifted his head up as Sharon came in to the room. She picked up the remote control and turned the TV off. Moxie sat up as Sharon came closer to Matthew. Sharon leaned down and gently shook his shoulder. "Matthew, come on sweetie, time to go upstairs" Sharon said to him in a sweet voice. Matthew opened his eyes. "What happened to Batman?" he said to her as he stood up from the couch. "He's in the kitchen" Sharon said to Matthew and Matthew's eyes got really big. He ran over to the kitchen but he only saw Andy standing by the sink. He then returned to where Sharon was standing by the stairs. "Daddy's in the kitchen" Matthew said to her. "Oh, really? Hmm, I thought it was Batman" Sharon said to him as they made their way upstairs.

Matthew got ready for bed and Sharon placed his clothes out for school. Andy joined them upstairs and they both tucked Matthew in bed. "Good night buddy" Andy said to Matthew as he closed the door behind them. Andy stood there for a second before Sharon pulled him to their room. "Now, you and I are going to have a little talk" Sharon said to him. "A talk about what?" Andy said as she pulled him in to their room. "Sit" she said to him and he sat at the end of their bed. "Now, I have been patient with you, but you need to seriously tell me how you are feeling, Andy" Sharon looked at him, arms folded across her chest. Andy watched her in front of him. He opened his mouth but she interrupted him. "Don't tell me you were feeling fine out there, Andrew!" she said to him and he shifted where he sat.

Andy took a breath and swallowed. "Okay, but promise me you won't freak out" he said to her as she stood across from him. "When we were moving through the trail, my heart was pounding in my ear, and the last time that happened was when I collapsed outside of your office" Andy said to her and she looked at him. "Andy" she said, covering her mouth with her hand. "I know, but I'm fine, honestly" Andy said to her. She shook her head at him. "Feel my pulse, it's normal" he said insisting that she touch him. She walked over to him and felt his pulse. His heart was beating normally and in a calm manner. "See?" he whispered to her. She looked down at him. "Fine, I will make an appointment tomorrow with my cardiologist if it makes you feel better" Andy said in defeat. "Thank you" she said leaning down to kiss him on his forehead. She then turned around and got herself ready for bed.

About an hour later as she laid there in Andy's arms, Sharon started thinking about everything that had happened to them over the past six months. All of the nice times they shared. Their wedding and Matthew were foremost on her mind when she thought of that. Then her mind turned to all of the questionable times. It was a little overwhelming thinking about how she had almost lost Andy a to bunch of psychos, but most importantly how she had almost lost him due to his health scare. It was still fresh in her mind as he collapsed in front of her. Everyone rushing to him, the paramedics taking him to the hospital, as she waited for all of his tests to be finished. Then relief when the doctor came in and said it was all due to an irregular heartbeat. Just then, Andy mumbled something in his sleep which brought Sharon out of her thoughts. She laid there, head on Andy's shoulder and her hand over his beating heart. A tear slightly falling from her eye. She would always worry about him.

The End


End file.
